What Brand Oil Do you Use? What is Best?

I found some VERY VERY good information about oil. This guy tested over 44 different brand/weights/types of oil. Too bad he didnt include more of the AMSOIL oils in there as well.Motor Oil Wear Test Results

It is very scientific in his testing and procedures. Only thing I could see making it better is making it a double blind test. So no ones knows what brand of oil it is until AFTER all tests have been completed and the bottle is revealed.

Right now I am using Royal Purple HPS 20w50, but I am thinking of making a change. I did notice an increase in lifter tick noise and other noises from engine during cold starts. It goes away after engine warms up to operating temperatures. I believe those Racing oils with high zinc and phosphorus is "not street legal" and not recommended because it damages the catalytic converters, but that is a non-issue for me and probably alot of people as most likely 90% already deleted it. So Racing oil/Street oil doesnt really matter for street. What I do care about is their performance and wear protection on track. The ability for the oil to still perform and not break down during HIGH oil temps, high engine temps, and sustained high rpms is important.

Changing oil before the end of its life is probably much more important that exactly what comes out of the bottle. I would like to see tests on say 3000mile old oil. The vette racecar Diff/trans/motor oil (7.5qts) just cost me $150 bucks and my labor. I got 6 cars and three take about 12 qts of motor oil. Whatever synthetic is "on sale" is more important to me than what brand.

I change my oil after every 2 events anyways. Not more than 1000 miles per oil change if that. I used to send my oil out for analysis to blackstone laboratories when i do an oil change. That was with Amsoil, but i was getting high oil temps with that brand, so decided to switch.

And plus I would add about 2-3qts of oil during the 1000miles anyway because my loose engine burns oil. During events it isnt uncommon for me to add at least a qt each day.

So looks like I made a good choice with Royal Purple. I am impressed with the scar left on the bearing. As long as we can assume Royal Purple was not sponsoring this test or this magazine didn't take any money from them or had any stake or affiliation with Royal Purple. If this was truly unbiased, objective, and 3rd-party, then I am impressed.

I use LAT racing oil based on a recommendation from my engine builder. The stuff is pretty expensive but they occasionally have free shipping on cases. I'm only on my second case so not too bad considering the cost of the engine. I'm too lazy to send oil out for lab tests, just change it every couple of events. This stuff has a bunch of moly in it and the stuff I've read on Bobistheoilguy.com about LAT oils has been favorable.

Funny, my Dad used Valvoline on everything. So it kind of stuck with me. Unless and engine builder recommends something different. Talking to a lubrication engineer for Yamaha. He told me most all oils are made by the same few refinery's and the additives are the only thing different between brands.
But that was in the 80's. So I'm sure things have changed a little.

I Remember ARCO came out with a Synthetic Graphite oil. It was black and any motor that had more then 30k on it would leak. GM Rope seals just wouldn't work for that stuff.

Also remember trying to break in a motor on synthetic oil when it first came out... found out the hard way (after the 3rd rebuild).

I change my oil after every 2 events anyways. Not more than 1000 miles per oil change if that. I used to send my oil out for analysis to blackstone laboratories when i do an oil change. That was with Amsoil, but i was getting high oil temps with that brand, so decided to switch.

And plus I would add about 2-3qts of oil during the 1000miles anyway because my loose engine burns oil. During events it isnt uncommon for me to add at least a qt each day.

A guy named Gary Lynch did that test for me with his product. It is a cool test. Something you can see. Same thing he did too, except he Wiped the surface off and then kept doing the test. Sold me and I'm not one for additives

Oil "tests" and "expert opinions" are a sea of bias and misinformation. Extreme pressure tests (like the OP) to claim "superiority" of one oil over another is BS. Same with 4-ball tests. And don´t get me started with AMSOIL marketing dept.

it has done 36,875 miles on the Ring. Driven by 457 idiots renting it, over revving (mechanical - missed downshifts, to 8761rpm) few times a week. 600 hours of track driving - equivalent of 24 of T25 hours race.

A: Ah, the million dollar question. We are an independent lab, so we don't make recommendations. It has been our experience that oil is oil, and either petroleum or synthetic-based oil will work well for just about any engine.

Q: Come on, you're holding out on me. I should use synthetic, right?

A: Buddy, you should use whatever you want. Synthetic oil won't guarantee a longer engine life any more than my eating organic food will guarantee I'll live until I'm 90. We here at Blackstone generally use regular petroleum-based oil because honestly, it works just as well for us.

it has done 36,875 miles on the Ring. Driven by 457 idiots renting it, over revving (mechanical - missed downshifts, to 8761rpm) few times a week. 600 hours of track driving - equivalent of 24 of T25 hours race.

This may very well be true for a 1.8L N/A 136hp 2600lb car. It will not be the same for a 3000lb Turbo'd 450whp boosting 28psi on trac with alot more moving parts. So yes, YMMV.

I guess the obvious takeaway is just to change your oil often. At the same time, we want the oil we are using to hold up during the times we use it like on track. So even if you are gonna change your oil 200miles later, it should not breakdown, cause issues, high oil temps, etc when you are on track.